Let’s keep riding the self care wave we’ve been on, shall we?
I know self care can seem extremely overwhelming, especially in the very busy, full lives that we lead now. Adding another thing to the to do list can trigger anxiety. But it doesn’t have to. We can keep it simple and easy peasy.
Touching back on self care and the senses, we’ve been talking a bit about sound and Solfeggios, but let’s check in on the sense of touch. If you are not already dry brushing your skin, Spring is the perfect time to get started! This is the time of year when our skin is really crying out for some extra TLC after the drying months of winter.
In case you are new to dry brushing here’s the skinny. It is an ancient Ayurvedic practice using a brush on dry skin before you bathe. It can rid the body of dry, flaky, skin, increase circulation, unclog pores and stimulate your body to produce its own natural oils. It detoxifies the skin by unclogging the pores making it easier to sweat and eliminate toxins in your system. It also feels good and stimulates the nervous system – think of it as a mini daily body massage – yes please! It makes your skin feel smoother and softer.
So how do we do this?
Use a brush that is specifically for dry brushing. You want the right bristles. They come with a long handle if you are interested in doing your back. I personally like the shorter handle ones. The best time to do it is right before you are going to shower or take a bath. Starting at the bottom of the feet, you are going to brush upwards in long strokes. We are always brushing towards the heart. Just a few passes in each area is fine and you are using a light pressure. Enough to exfoliate and stimulate, but you don’t want it to feel too scratchy or turn your skin really red.
After you do your legs, and you reach the abdomen you are going to do nice circular clockwise motions coming up the right side of the belly, going across to the left , down the left side and across to the right. You will want to be a little gentler with pressure here since this area is often a little sensitive.
Same idea with the arms, you are going up towards the heart.
It’s that simple. This literally can take about two minutes to do. Remember, we are not scrubbing, just a few passes on each area to give our skin, circulation nervous and lymphatic system some love. There are definitely more advanced ways of doing this and incorporating gua sha and really targeting the lymphatic system, but that’s not what we’re going for here. This is a quick self care, skin exfoliation.
Proceed with your shower and bath and be sure to end this self care moment with something nourishing for the skin- your favorite lotion, body butter or body oil of choice. Something that FEELS really luxurious on your skin. Bonus points if you can bring in the sense of smell and it smells amazing and extra bonus points if you are listening to something that makes your heart sing during this quick and easy moment of self care.
We offer a Dry Brush Skin Rejuvenation Massage Treatment at Judy Moon & Associates. We start with dry brushing of the whole body and then follow with a therapeutic aromatherapy massage. You get to take your dry brush home with you and instructions on self brushing. And you get a discount on the treatment if you bring your brush back with you next time!
Happy Spring and Happy New Skin!
